BURY North MP James Frith has called for ‘empathy and compassion’ from the Government when making decisions on the provision of life-saving treatments.

Mr Frith says he has written to the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, to call for a greater focus on the potential impact on patients when deciding which medicines the NHS should fund.

In July, Mr Frith met the husband of a Bury woman suffering from cystic fibrosis and has since thrown his support behind a campaign by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to get access to new medicines that could prolong and enhance the lives of those living with the condition.

The Trust claim that a new drug called Orkambi has the potential to significantly improve the lives of nearly half of those living with the disease.

The drug tackles the underlying genetic mutations which cause the condition, slowing the decline in lung function by over 40% and reducing the need for hospitalisation by over 60%.

Despite this, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which determine which medicines will be provided by the NHS, have refused to permit use of the drug, arguing that it is too expensive.

Over 10,000 people in the UK suffer from cystic fibrosis, with more than 400 in Greater Manchester.

My Frith said: “Having heard directly from a local family living with this horrible disease, I believe firmly that the Government have made the wrong decision and need to consider factors other than simply cost when determining which medicines to make available to NHS patients.

“It is unacceptable that hundreds of people across Greater Manchester and thousands of people across the UK continue to be denied a potentially life-saving drug. I have written to the Secretary of State to ask him to intervene and change the way medicines are assessed and I am also tabling a number of questions in Parliament.

“Drugs like Orkambi can make an enormous difference to thousands of people’s lives and the Government must do everything possible to make it available - and other potentially life-saving medicines being ruled out on cost grounds. We need some empathy and compassion in decision making.”